Indie dev remaking Descent with modern graphics, sound

Though the game has languished in recent years, freeform first-person shooter Descent is finally getting a fancy, fan-made reboot, courtesy of "Madmax1998." Madmax is using the Unreal Engine 3 to bring the original game's "six degrees of freedom" (the ability to orient and move in any direction, abbreviated as "6DOF") fully into the modern graphical era. While previous remakes and modifications like DXX have focused on improving the original's graphics by bolting 3D acceleration onto the original game's source code, Madmax's remake is a full engine replacement.

Though it never really rose to be the smash success it deserved to be, Descent was popular enough during the mid-'90s to spawn two sequels and garner a significant online following. Descent plopped the player into a heavily armed spaceship and sent him down into mines and tunnels, on a mission to eliminate an army of renegade robots. Where Descent differed from its contemporaries was that it let the player move in any direction on any axis—up, down, left, right, forward, and backward, with control over pitch, yaw, and roll. Descent was best played using a keyboard and a four-button joystick with a hat switch, and that barrier to entry was a contributing factor that kept it from full mainstream acceptance.

The developer's site features a YouTube video (embedded below) displaying his progress so far, showing the player's point of view bobbing and sliding around in a manner familiar to Descent aficionados. Three types of evil robots make appearances, and though it's a bit jarring to see Descent-style action occurring in an Unreal Tournament level, the awesome mix of original Descent sound effects and music quickly pulled me in. The site indicates that the plan for the remake includes a retelling of the game's story, along with recreations of all of the original levels, weapons, and killer robots.

We're hoping to see much more of this remake soon, and the developer has set up a mailing list to keep folks up to date on the project's progress. Meanwhile, if you're eager to relive the past and don't want to wait, Descent 1 and 2 can be purchased right now from GOG.com for $5.99.

Descent in UE3

Lee Hutchinson
Lee is the Senior Technology Editor at Ars and oversees gadget, automotive, IT, and culture content. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX. Emaillee.hutchinson@arstechnica.com//Twitter@Lee_Ars

I always though that a controller like the SpaceOrb 360 was better suited than a joystick for that game. I played it with my friend's and found it better than my keyboard/joystick combination at the time. I think the Sidewinder would be better than the joystick I had back then, but I think the Orb would still be better.

My body is so ready for this - Descent was the game that got me fully hooked on being a PC gamer. I have always regretted that Interplay shifted Descent into Red Faction. Imagining Descent with terrain deformation is just...guh. I need a towel!

I will be watching this with eager anticipation. I still maintain Descent's Multiplayer was some of the best fun to be had. Having that much freedom of movement + the weaponry/pacing just superseded the experiences offered by other competitiors at the time [Quake, etc.] IMO.

The problem with Descent has always been controls. I think it could work really well on a tablet device, with tilt controlling pitch/roll and a virtual (or real, on the Wii U) thumbstick for throttle/strafe. Even though that leaves out yaw and vertical motion, I think it would feel more natural and intuitive than old Descent's acres of keypad.

Oh man this brings back a lot of memories. I played so much descent as a youngster. Played all 3 descents. Did the whole Kali thing for 1 and 2 and then PXO for 3. I took part in the Descent 3 $50,000K tournament and won some cool swag

Went to a bunch of LAN's and even hosted one at my (parents) house.

I'd love to see a modern Descent. There was some rumour the remains of interplay wanted to try to remake it, but that was a couple years ago.

I needed to lie down on a bed after playing that game for 20 minutes due to motion sickness, I can't imagine how bad it will be now

This is pretty much my memory of Descent, and also having too many keybinds for my feeble brain to track. I was able to play the Playstation port really well with the controller, though, via heavy use of shoulder buttons. I need to revisit it that way.

I loved Descent; spent many hours playing it. I remember when I upgraded my sound card to a SoundBlaster AWE32 just so the music would sound better. (Some of course might argue for the Gravis Ultrasound, but the AWE32 was better hardware at the time.)

And also, the optimal way to play descent was not with a keyboard and joystick, but with a Gravis Phoenix joystick:

In fairness, the Gravis Phoenix was essentially a keyboard + joystick + mouse internally as it plugged both into a PS/2 port and a joystick port.

I'm sure many of you (Descent fans) remember warpcore.org and the IDL (Invitational Descent Ladder) or things like installing Descent I from floppy disk

Yes! Good luck, Madmax1998. I managed to play all the way through Descent I over the last year or so and I'm working my way slowly through Descent II. Personally, I love the retro graphics, but I'll play it all over again if you pull this off. :-)

The problem with Descent has always been controls. I think it could work really well on a tablet device, with tilt controlling pitch/roll and a virtual (or real, on the Wii U) thumbstick for throttle/strafe. Even though that leaves out yaw and vertical motion, I think it would feel more natural and intuitive than old Descent's acres of keypad.

If you were playing Descent with a keyboard and mouse, you really were doing it wrong. Descent worked quite well with a proper flight stick, using hat switches for sliding movement and major axes for rotation.

Yes! I still remember the first time I ever saw Descent, six people around a table in a PC shop (they used to have those you know) playing multi in what must have been the shareware version. What I wouldn't give to find out what joystick that was...

Anyways, it was a great game... though the map was an exercise in frustration for a young kid, and that boss on the seventh level still holds a place in my heart. Mostly due to the constant deaths until I finally figured it out.

Thank you. I may actually have 1-3 in a drawer somewhere... but I bet I lost it.

Kickass redbook OST and the guidebot took a lot of the stress of escaping out. A lot of people would probably say that's a bad thing and makes it too easy, but I liked the guidebot helping.

I HATE HATE HATE that thiefbot, though. If that little turd took my stuff, I chased him from one end of the level and back, emptying all my ammo into it, even if ammo was scarce.

Honestly, while I don't mind the Guidebot (and many of the DII levels look really, really nice)...that f--king Thiefbot is what slows me down. It's like, every time I start a new level, I have to find him and kill him first. And yes, I have found myself careening headlong through a level trying to track his thieving @$$ down.

I would actually pay for this game. And I understand why this won't go up on KickStarter. Would love to help, though I don't have any experience in anything he's looking for, or even decently recent hardware to test on.

I must say, though, I got pretty good using keyboard/mouse. Never used a joystick.

Hah, I remember standing up after playing Descent and immediately nearly falling over. The sad part is that this was not a unique occurrence. That and it definitely was one of my worst games for "trying to peek around the corner by physically leaning sideways in your chair."

Now I'm a little curious in how a modern graphics engine based update will feel, motion-wise. For some reason it has that "I know I should walk away, but I just can't help myself" feeling

I love Descent, I have re-bought it on GoG just to save time compared to re-installing/re-configuring/patching form original media. I think the level design in Descent 1 is better than in 2, it has tighter and more convoluted spaces although I also agree that the thiefbot is a real PITA and one of the more scary parts of D2.

Kickass redbook OST and the guidebot took a lot of the stress of escaping out. A lot of people would probably say that's a bad thing and makes it too easy, but I liked the guidebot helping.

I HATE HATE HATE that thiefbot, though. If that little turd took my stuff, I chased him from one end of the level and back, emptying all my ammo into it, even if ammo was scarce.

Honestly, while I don't mind the Guidebot (and many of the DII levels look really, really nice)...that f--king Thiefbot is what slows me down. It's like, every time I start a new level, I have to find him and kill him first. And yes, I have found myself careening headlong through a level trying to track his thieving @$$ down.

What's with all the negative votes for posts that are excited about the game?

META: I was gonna guess that someone thinks gushing nostalgia doesn't add to the conversation (perhaps a reasonable perspective). But it looks like even useful posts have been downvoted. So what we've got is a lurking hater, apparently.